In April 2014, the Vile Parle resident had booked train tickets on the Howrah Mumbai mail for his wife and son, who wanted to travel from Jabalpur to Mumbai in June 2014. He was later informed that the train had been cancelled due to some unavoidable circumstances.

In the light of the events that unfolded, he decided to book a train from Jabalpur to Nagpur and then a flight to Mumbai.

In October 2014, he filed a complaint stating that the IRCTC, (who he had reached out to) failed to refund his ticket money. Instead, he was told that the Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) filing deadline had been revised to 72 hours, and he had missed seeking the refund money within the stipulated time.

Agitated by the firm’s lack of action, Shembavanekar moved to the South Mumbai District consumer dispute redressal commission forum and filed a complaint. His battle to reclaim his money ended after the forum declared its order on the matter recently.

According to a DNA report, the forum ruled that the ticket money had to be refunded since the railways had cancelled the train on its own.

It criticised the claim of the railway subsidiary firm that mentioned that the complainant failed to file the TDR within 72 hours as ‘unsustainable and baseless.’ It noted that it was mandatory for the firm to refund the amount as the consumer did not avail of their services and by denying the same, there was a deficiency of service.

In conclusion, the forum ordered IRCTC to refund Shembavanekar the ticket amount of Rs 1,855. In addition, it has been told to additional compensate him with Rs 7,500 towards the mental agony caused and Rs 2,500 towards his litigation charges.